Iggy Azalea, Bonds & plastic surgery: realistic body image? - Women's Agenda

Iggy Azalea, Bonds & plastic surgery: realistic body image?

When Iggy Azalea began popping up larger-than-life on Bonds billboard ads I was a little surprised at first. I hadn’t realised the rapper based in America was Australian. Upon learning she was born in Mullumbimby NSW, I thought it was a clever move by Bonds to reach a younger audience by tapping into her huge fan base of social media-savvy teenagers.

Reading a recent interview with Iggy Azalea on what it means to be a Bonds ambassador, I was surprised to see her promoting “plastic surgery” to achieve “positive body image” in basically the same sentence.

Last year Iggy admitted to undergoing breast enhancement surgery, and while I admire her decision to be frank and up-front about the procedure, the message she is sending as a Bonds ambassador seems wrong.

The article that appeared in news.com.au quoted Iggy – who is referring to plastic surgery – as saying “hey, if you do it all the time more power to you” and “I had my one thing I wanted to change, and I changed that.”

Bonds say they chose to use Iggy as a brand ambassador because “she sets a realistic body expectation for all women.” Is it realistic that all women have plastic surgery? Is this messaging by Iggy and Bonds that plastic surgery is cool, a positive or responsible message to be communicating to the Bonds audience, which includes girls as young 10 years old?

Just as starving yourself or smoking cigarettes to keep the weight off is dangerous, having surgery carries extreme risks both during and after the procedure. It is not something to pursue lightly or to promote easily to young girls.

Instead of sending a message that if you don’t like your appearance, or if you don’t look the same as a model you should change yourself, we should be asking why women are still made to feel there’s only one right way to look. Iggy Azalea has been praised for her natural curves, but why was she made to feel that she still needed plastic surgery?

Many popular media outlets, especially magazines targeted to young women, have moved with the times and are choosing to include women of all ages, shapes and ethnicities in their images. Why would an iconic brand like Bonds promote a surgically enhanced body as “realistic”?

Isn’t it time we stop setting unattainable standards of beauty, hiding our supposed faults and apologising for ourselves? Isn’t it time we stop pretending that we don’t have PMS and menstruate each month, or suffer from the occasional mishap? Aren’t all these impossible to achieve standards and secrets the cause of negative body image in the first place?

I believe women should encourage each other and build each other up to be the best we can, and this begins with accepting ourselves and not comparing ourselves to unachievable standards of beauty.

I started Modbodi because although most women experience some menstrual overflow or light leaks in their life, it is so rarely acknowledged as it doesn’t fit the image of the perfect woman projected in advertisements. Women should be able to be real with themselves, and know that while their bodies might not always be perfect, they’re capable of amazing things. 

Female beauty standards are constantly changing and while Bonds might see themselves as promoting a realistic body image by using a “curvy” Iggy as a brand Ambassador, the reality is they are not. Instead this campaign is promoting to young girls is “if you don’t have the body you want, no problem, just go under the knife.”

Is that a positive message to send young women?

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